


Terminal Velocity

by Iambic



Category: Star Trek (2009)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-20
Updated: 2009-12-20
Packaged: 2017-10-04 17:20:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/32575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iambic/pseuds/Iambic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The saving-Sulu-from-falling-to-his-death thing won't always work, but it has this far.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Terminal Velocity

"Beam him out, beam him out!" you're yelling into Scotty's ear. To either side, Spock and Bones threaten to restrain you. Scotty is protesting even as he programs and reprograms the coordinates of a man in freefall. You can't see anything but a dot, moving in and out of the target lock. But you can see it in your head, the figure in yellow dropping at terminal velocity. You can hear the abrupt cry of sudden terror. It wasn't so long ago that you dove off a rocking drill after him.

The difference is that now you're back up on the ship, and you're only hearing Sulu in your earpiece. And even this is just the rushing of air. You can't even hear him breathing hard against the roar of the wind.

"We only get one shot at this!" Scotty says, and he sounds urgent, but not urgent enough.

"Just do it!" you shout, voice bouncing against the hard metal walls to bounce around the transport room; Bones to your right winces. Spock doesn't react at all. But you hang onto the back of Scotty's chair and stare desperately down at the console and all the target squares align.

"Energise," Scotty says.

Then, the swirling of photons, the forming of a shape you know. Sulu crashes to the raised platform, letting breath out in a whoosh you can hear from the next room. That's all the incentive you need to run over, captain's dignity be damned, to grab him by both shoulders and haul him up. You need for him to gasp for your breath, just for a moment. And he, in turn, grips your arms and breaths hard and stares wide-eyed, only at you. As gestures go, it's not the most romantic. But it's what you know, and it's what he needs.

(Later on, he collapses on your bare chest and says, "It doesn't get any easier." And you know he's safe now, but you will yourself denser and keep your arms free so you can dive after him, should he ever fall again.)


End file.
